Annapurna: Aloo Rasedar / UP Style Potato Curry

Aloo Rasedar is a delicious potato curry from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Aloo means potato and rasedar refers to thin gravy in Hindi, hence the name. Here, crumbled boiled potatoes are simmered in a thin tomato based curry with some basic spices and herbs to make this dish. Aloo Rasedar is an onion-garlic free vegan curry usually served with bedmi poori or Kachori in UP but also makes for a comfort food with hot phulka or chapati. Aloo rasedar also comes to your rescue when you run short of veggies or are pressed for time as the dish is ready under 30 minutes from scratch.

My first encounter with aloo rasedar was in one of the Bhandara few years back. Bhandara is the meal offered to deity after any pooja, jagrata or havan and then distributed among devotees as prasad. The food served in bhandara is essentially satvik, which means the vegetarian food that is fresh and devoid of onion or garlic. Aloo rasedar is also referred to as Bhandarewale aloo or dubki wale aloo. In Uttar Pradesh Aloo Rasedar is a famous street food and often paired with Poori or Urad Dal Kachori. In the picture below, i have served i with bedmi poori, cucumber salad and Boondi Raita.

What goes into this Aloo Rasedar ?

The main ingredient of this Aloo Rasedar curry is obviously potatoes. Boiled potatoes are simply crumbled with fingers and added in the curry. Tomatoes are pureed with ginger and green chillies. A simple oil tempering of cumin seeds and asafoetida is done. Aloo rasedar is also referred to as hing jeera wale aloo owing to this simple yet flavorful tempering. Tomato puree is added to this tempering and sauteed until you see oil floating on the top. Spice powders like red chili powder, turmeric powder, crushed fennel seeds. amchur powder and garam masala are added to it and stir fried for few seconds. Crumbled boiled potatoes are added to this masala followed by water. The curry is allowed to boil and simmer for few minutes for the spices to blend well with the potatoes. Lastly the aloo rasedar is garnished with fresh coriander leaves and served with poori or chapati. So let's get started.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

4 medium size potatoes
2 tomatoes
2 green chilies
1/2 inch ginger piece / adrak
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds/ Jeera
Pinch of Asafoetida / Hing
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds /saunf
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon amchur powder/ dry mango powder
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon oil
1-2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander powder

Method:

To begin with add washed potatoes to a pressure cooker and cook for 3-4 whistles. Simmer for 5 minutes and allow the pressure to come down on its own. Peel the boiled potatoes on cooling and roughly crumble them and keep aside until use.
Next, add roughly chopped tomatoes, green chilies and ginger to a grinder jar and pulse to a smooth puree.

3. Heat oil in a wok and add cumin seeds to it. Once the seeds crackle , add a pinch of asafoetida to it. To this tempering, add the tomato puree and saute until oil starts floating on the top.

4. Now, lower the flame and add the spice powders, red chili powder, turmeric powder, crushed fennel seeds and garam masala. Stir fry the spices for a minute or so before adding the crumbled boiled potatoes to it.

5. Add about 2 cups water and give a good stir. Season the curry with salt and amchur powder and allow it to boil. Now lower the flame and cover cook the curry for 5-7 minutes.

6. Lastly garnish the aloo rasedar with finely chopped coriander and put off the flame. Serve hot with poori, kachori or bedmi poori.

Recipe Notes:

We love aloo rasedar slightly on the spicier side. You may reduce the green chilies or spices powders as per your spice tolerance and liking.
As the name suggests, aloo rasedar is a thin potato curry. However, you may adjust the consistency of the curry as per your choice.
You may chop the tomatoes and add to the curry instead of adding the tomato puree.

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